Thursday, January 15, 2009

Self-publishing Photography

Self publishing photos into books and posters interested me more so the end of 2008 because pretty much all of my presents turned out to be prints from my photography class (aka still broke college student with no hopes of getting better). Though the prices I have looked at are still more on the expensive end, I still found it interesting as a prospective gifts for the the new year, or for portfolio purposes once I get closer to graduation.

Blurb.comWhat's wonderful about this site is that it's straightforward and has a clean, user-friendly design that makes it easy to get started on your photography publishing endeavors. Products are limited to just books of different sizes, however. But because of this simplicity, it also helps the user focus on various aspects of the book such as tips on self promotion, inspiration and even includes a feature which will have your book hosted on their bookstore. However, to make your own books, you have to download their free book-making product.

This site was given at recommendation from my photography professor and highly suggested it for print portfolio pieces as the quality was rather high and the price relatively small.

100 Books Publishing CompanyThough the site is rather archaic compared to many sites of our day and age, I came across this article on a site named Luminous Landscape. The author actually details his step by step progress with this company as he publishes his portfolio in book form. It could be considered slightly outdated but then again, many small publishers still run in this way; it's not an option to leave out.

Shutterfly.comThis is the all in all photo publishing for those who want everything and their mother on cups, posters, boxes, calendars, etc. Yes, you can get that at a photo store like Wolf/Ritz camera but that site itself relies highly on community and organizing your photos.

Set in a user-friendly and spunky design, Shutterfly distinguishes itself by having a wide range of digital photo books in which users can comment, rate, etc. Storing your photos and creating these web books (which you can also incorporate on your website/blog) are completely free. For those who may be overwhelmed by all the features and options on the site, there are demo videos.

Some of the featured photo books caught my attention such as this one:

The potential for creativity for graphics + photos is endless and I really dig the embedding feature for the web books.

On another note, the year has definitely started kind of rough and it being my last semester an all, I predict lots of changes. One of my informal new years resolutions is keeping up with this blog and publish my new website and project which will be at the heart of my activities this last semester. Wishing everyone a wonderful

About Me

An aspiring designer, writer, entrepreneur and traveler who is nearing the end of her college days. Hoping to gather knowledge along the way of her internet endeavors, she blogs about it and has a habit of writing random thoughts on scraps of paper and napkins and hiding them in shoeboxes.